Expect open, attacking football when Singapore takes on Maldives
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| Veterans: Hariss Harun (centre left), 28, shakes hands with Maldivian defender Akram Abdul Ghanee, 31. Both men will have to mentor their younger team-mates in Friday's friendly. Image Credit: Paul Green 
Paul Green
Writer
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Incoming Maldives coach, veteran Croatian Petar Segrt, promised that his team would play an open brand of football at the Singapore Sports Hub on Friday night, when his team meets Singapore in a friendly there.
Segrt, who claimed to have lost his voice ahead of Thursday’s press conference, had few problems communicating his thoughts to the assembled media at the M Hotel in the heart of Singapore’s business district.
“I think I know why Singapore asked us to come here and play them in this friendly,” the coach confided.
“I don’t think the Maldives have ever beaten Singapore and Singapore have not been doing very well recently, so they would like to win something tomorrow.
Singapore coach, V. Sundram Moorthy, was having none of that.
“We have always tried to find opponents who are placed higher than ourselves and we have tested ourselves against teams like Lebanon and Qatar and learned a lot from playing those teams.
The Maldives are rated 150 in the rankings and they are also above us, so it will not be an easy game.
“There are no easy games in world football any more, unlike when I was playing, so we are expecting a tough game against the Maldives.
“We have a number of younger players in the squad for this game, such as Ben Davis, Irfan and Ikhsan and I’ve selected a balanced group, including some experienced players who can guide the younger ones, like Baihakki Khaizan, goalkeepers Hassan Sunny and Izwan Mahbud and so on.
“We will assess our opponents and our tactics tomorrow will as usual be based on their strengths and weaknesses, since we always prepare according to who our opponents are and how we expect them to play."
Like Sundram, the 51-year-old Segrt has to deal with a young squad.
“We have only just begun training together, so it will take some time for us to improve and I am expecting a tough game against Singapore.
“I was only appointed to this job with the Maldives national side eleven days ago and I’ve been tasked with building a team for the future.
“I have 17- and 18-year-olds in my squad who are leaving home for the first time as newly chosen members of the national team and a lot of the older players from the previous Maldives side are no longer around. I think the average age of my new squad is around 22."
He remembers coaching Afghanistan to a 2-1 home win over Bernd Stange's Singapore, and the former defender is aware of many changes in the Lions’ personnel since those matches took place.
“The teams I coach always try to play open football and to score goals and I’m not one to settle for dull scoreless draws, so we will definitely try to play positively in our match against Singapore."
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